Thursday, 23 May 2013

Birthday

About five days after arriving in Mufasa Rustic Backpackers in
Monkey Bay I left it for Cape McLear. Marc, the Spanish guy who
travels from Alexandria to Cape Town on a Yamaha Ténéré 600, went
there a day before and came back to say he got a good deal with a
place there with diving and kayaking included. So I decided to join
him there for the dives the next day.

Going out for a dive in Lake Malawi

QB the current manager at Mufasa and José the night guard helped
me out to get a transport to Cape McLear. They told me the best was
to take one of the motorbike taxis. I showed them my big bags and
told them it will probably be too much luggage, but they said no it's
going to be fine, they have space to pack the bags upon. When the
bike came, I saw the small space, and wondered how the driver, me, my
big Travel Trekker, my backpack and my camera bag were going to fit
onto it. Unfortunately nobody took a picture, because it was a sight.
The helmet obviously didn't fit me and I would probably be better off
without it in case of an accident.
Thus I arrived in Eco Lodge in Cape McLear before nine in the
morning. I got the same deal as Marc, namely 2 dives for USD 35 each
including free accommodation and kayaking for USD 10 which makes a
total of USD 80 for 3 days, 2 nights, 2 dives and a half day of kayak
renting. It's still mzungu prices, but it's one of the cheaper you
could get.

Diviiiiiiiing, it's been a while!

At ten we went out on the small boat for Marc's second dive and my
first. We didn't drive far, just next to the closest island to a dive
site called English Voices because some Englishmen had discovered it.
The lake offers a multitude of small sized fishes. Some are very
colorful in blue and yellow. Others less, and some are just dull
grey. The bottom of the lake is strewn with large boulders which are
covered with fish shit. Lacford, our Divemaster, didn't brief us in
any way, and he probably wouldn't have bothered asking my diving
credentials if I hadn't showed him my expired temporary Rescue Diver
license. He didn't ask Marc if he had ever dived before. But Watson,
the front man at reception had previously asked me about it. I
wouldn't recommend this particular place to any diver lacking in
confidence. As long as you have your Advanced Open Water or
equivalent, and know how to do a pre-dive safety check on your own
you should be fine though. The diving is easy without current
whatsoever.

On the way back Marc bought for MWK 800 (about CHF 2) of fish that
we shared with the staff members. They provided us with nsima and
veggies and grilled the fish for us and we paid for the fish. It was
a perfect lunch taken on the shores of Lake Malawi.

In the afternoon, after going to town buy some food for the next
day, I went out again just with Lacford and the skipper. The water
was much clearer at this other dive site named Aquarium. Otherwise
the fishes are the same. I spent some time going under rock passages,
cutting off floaters from old fishing nets and getting a few other
items out of the lake's floor.

Marc the Chef

In the evening we organized a kitchen outside of our rooms. These
rooms are a bit further away from the main lodge area where the other
kitchen is. The stove there doesn't work though, so we used Marc's
gas stove and prepared a good hearty meal consisting of some weird
sausages, sweet potatoes, beans, tomatoes all thrown together in a
frying pan. We started off with a few eggs and carrots before the
main course was ready. Once it was, I ate a bit and was already full.
I wasn't feeling very hungry anyway, and thought it was a tad weird.

My skin was feeling unusual, somewhat like when you have a sunburn
but everywhere including in the palms of the hands and under the
feet. It was going on for a few days and getting a bit worse every
day. I didn't sleep well and was extremely tired, more than my usual
tiredness. I just wanted to sleep all the time, but it didn't help
feeling rested at all. The next day I started having loose stools.

We visited the Billy Riordan Clinic here in Cape McLear which is a
Irish funded trust clinic with young volunteer doctors. For a mzungu
it costs either € 60, USD 80 or MWK 31'500 to get treated. So I
decided I wasn't sick enough. I ate almost nothing the rest of the
day except for a chocolate bar which I thought would help me get some
sugar in me. Alice, the owner of the lodge advised me to drink at
least two liters of water a day and rest and avoid the sun.

The Cake

On my first day here, I asked the staff if I could get a cake for
my birthday on the following day. They said yes, but that it would
cost MWK 3'500 instead of their usual price of MWK 4'000. I said it
was too much and during the negotiation we came to a smaller cake,
but still for about the same price. Very frustrating. The cook told
me to wait for the boss, M. Fabiano, who was to come in later. I
talked again with him and the cook and some other staff members
without coming to an agreement. I said I was ready to pay MWK 1'500
for a cake. They wouldn't do it and M. Fabiano said we would talk
again the next day. The next evening, Watson came to see me and told
me the cake was ready. As we didn't agree on a price, I wondered what
it would finally be. Watson said it would be for MWK 1'500.

Staff members (first on the left turned 20)

That day we had planned to go out kayaking with Marc, and to have
lunch on the closest island. As I wasn't supposed to go into the sun
too much, and rest anyway, I told Marc he should go alone. When he
came back, he said it was better than diving and that he had spent an
awesome day. In the evening he prepared himself some dinner. I didn't
want anything as I knew I wasn't really hungry and that if I ate too
much I wouldn't feel well. Mom and Dad called me on my local Malawian
number and we had a little chat. After that Watson came back and told
me the cake was ready. He told me another girl from the staff had her
birthday today, so I told him to bring everyone over. They came in
singing “Happy birthday” a few minutes later. Watson had asked me
my name and age a little bit earlier, but I had misunderstood the
“age” part as he didn't use that word. Or maybe I just didn't get
it. Anyway, I said 23 as I thought he wanted to know the date
(although that was weird, but I didn't question him). That's why, on
the cake, I was 23 years old. Someone fetched some beers and cold
drinks and we had ourselves a party. Later we decided to go out
shortly, to a local bar in the village. I wasn't feeling good, so we
went back home after not even an hour.

Medication

I slept really badly with the beers messing with my already bad in
state belly. So the next morning I decided to finally go see a doctor
at that clinic. The Irish doctor lady, whose name I forgot because
it's Irish, told me that I had traveler's diarrhea. I got tested for Malaria and it turned out to be negative. I was relieved
and at the same time a bit annoyed at myself. I can handle a
diarrhea. But the skin effect didn't reassure me too much. Anyway,
sometimes it's good to see a doctor... So I came back with
antibiotics, painkillers (in case I feel pain) and pills against
bilharzia. The latter I would have to take three months after leaving
the lake area. As they are much easier and cheaper to get here, I
agreed to take them now.